The invention generally relates to coatings for integrated circuits or other electronics packages. The invention also relates generally to methods of providing such coatings.
Conventionally integrated circuits are designed for use in relatively benign environments such as desktop PC's, cell phones, and the like. When these integrated circuit technologies are used in more demanding environments such as avionics they may experience excessively high failure rates due to the higher operating temperature, corrosion, etc. In addition, due to the sensitive nature of the information that may be stored on these components, it may be necessary to protect these devices from reverse engineering in the event that a system containing them were to fall into unfriendly hands. Modifying integrated circuits to improve their thermal performance, corrosion resistance, and tamper resistance is typically very expensive and can be detrimental to reliability.
Therefore, what is needed is a low-cost, simple method for making commercial integrated circuits more suitable for use in harsh environments. Further, what is needed is a low-cost coating for an integrated circuit which provides resistance to damage in harsh environments.
The techniques herein below extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the appended claims, regardless of whether they accomplish one or more of the above-mentioned needs.